How One Automaker Is Dealing With Too Many Jobs, Not Enough Qualified Applicants

It’s a case of high demand but not enough qualified takers. That’s the situation right now regarding manufacturing jobs, especially in the auto industry—too many jobs, not enough applicants with the necessary skills. To fill that gap, automakers like Ford

F
Motor Co., have turned to launching internal education programs to teach existing employees the skills needed to fill vacant openings.

It’s a concept catching on in many industries known as reskilling or upskilling and the need for it accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic as individuals either left the workforce or pursued other occupations.

The situation is especially acute trying to find enough applicants for manufacturing positions. A study by talent recruitment firm Internet Collaborative Information Management Systems (iCIMS) revealed since January manufacturing openings increased 44% but applications for those openings were down 24% rebounding only 11% in the past month.

According to a study released April 30 by the McKinsey institute surveying various businesses, 58% said closing skill gaps in their companies’ workforces has become a higher priority since the pandemic began.

“What the pandemic has really done has accelerated a trend that already existed,” noted Ford Chief Learning Officer Craig DeWald in an interview.

Seeing that trend developing, Ford had already engaged upskilling platform company Degreed. Originally planned to launch last June, the DeWald said that timeline was quickly moved up to March, 2020 when the pandemic made the need for remote learning imperative.

Degreed’s platform is a gateway for employees to remotely access learning resources in Ford’s vast library without having to hunt for the material from various sites.

“We are helping their employees across the board grow new skills so they’re better at the positions that they have and the positions they want in the future and leadership can look at that data and understand where the business has gaps, from a skills perspective and use that information for workforce planning, learning personalization and all those things that take part in the HR ecosystem,” said Sarah Danzi, head of global communications at Degreed.

As with other automakers developing more technologically complex vehicles, the challenge is matching employees and applicants to new skills required as the company evolves.

“It’s a dual transformation to turnaround auto and at the same time start to develop new businesses that move into a broader array of mobility, building off of software, big data. It’s sort of the complete digital transformation. That brings a whole new set of skill sets we need to grow and grow quickly within Ford,” said DeWald.

Those new skills required to fill manufacturing positions aren’t the same as they were even a decade ago. Degreed’s Danzi pointed to a recent State of Skills report by her firm looking at the skills most in demand in various industries. For manufacturing in order of priority, they were advanced IT and programming, leadership and managing others, advanced communication and negotiation, entrepreneurship and initiative taking, technology design and engineering.

Those more technical skill requirements have actually resulted in a generational shift in those who are interested in manufacturing positions, according to iCIMS’s director of insights Rhea Moss.

“Historically, 25-34 year olds made up the lion’s share of applications to the manufacturing industry,” said Moss. “In March, for first time we saw 18-24 year olds surpass them in application. The younger generation is seeing opportunity in manufacturing right now.”

Moss attributes that shift to childcare issues facing millennial parents due to the pandemic-forced school closings, some women leaving the workforce and others not bothering to apply after receiving government stimulus payments. Plus, younger individuals may simply be more tech savvy owning more up to date skills and who are also more comfortable with working remotely.

Indeed, the pandemic “revealed a lot of gaps not just in process and skill set but also in technology because a lot of companies were keeping their businesses going with, to some extent, outdated, antiquated processes and tools,” points out iCIMS chief people officer Jewell Parkinson.

The pandemic also revealed that some companies simply didn’t know which of their employees may possessed the skills they were seeking from outside applicants, according to Degreed’s Sarah Danzi.

“The number one request that came to us at the beginning of Covid was the need to understand the skills and talent within an organization so they could redeploy talent,” said Danzi. “The way people had to shift or transform their business around Covid really exposed we don’t really know what talent is inside those walls.”

Ford’s Craig DeWald says hard data is still being processed but based on anecdotal evidence so far the company’s reskilling efforts using the Degreed platform are paying off.

“It’s been a hugely positive reaction at Ford in general around this particular platform,” said DeWald. We’re looking to understand better how it’s impacting retention.”

Barely a year into its effort the results appear to be doing the job at Ford helping to fill openings that might otherwise require looking for outside applicants by reskilling existing employees and retaining workers by updating their skills.

“Learning is an important aspect of the employee value proposition so we wanna continue to build on this,” DeWald said.